Russia defeat Scotland to win bronze

Russia won the bronze medals for the second year in a row Photo: WCF/Richard Gray

Russia beat Scotland 13-4 to win the bronze medals on Sunday morning at the ZEN-NOH World Women's Curling Championship being held in the Tsukisamu Gymnasium in Sapporo, Japan.

This was the third time these two teams had played each other in this year’s championship, with one win each before the game started.

Russia skip Anna Sidorova set her team up in the opening end when, with her first stone, she played a double take-out on two Scottish stones to lie with four stones in the scoring position.

She then tapped-back another Scottish stone with her second effort to score five points and give Russia a cushion for the rest of the game.

In the second end, Scottish skip Eve Muirhead got her team on the scoreboard with a hit and stay, but just for one point.

In the third end, an umpire's measure gave Russia one point and a 6-1 lead.

The fourth end saw Muirhead attempt at a multiple take-out which left one Russian stone in place, giving Russia a steal of one point for a 7-1 lead.

Scotland suffered another set-back in the fifth end, when Muirhead had a complete miss with her second stone to give up a steal of three more points, giving Russia a 10-1 fifth end break lead.

In the sixth end, Muirhead cleanly picked out one Russia stone to score two points in the end.

The rules state that games at this stage of a championship must go to eight ends and in the seventh, Sidorova hit out two Scottish stones to score three more points, for 13-3.

The teams then played out the eighth end - Muirhead drew for one point with her last stone and then shook hands with her opponents, with a final score of 13-4 to Russia, who now repeat their bronze medal win from last year.

After the game, a pleased Russia skip Anna Sidorova said: "I’m so happy, it's absolutely amazing. It’s been a very tough week for us. It could have been better, but it’s still a medal. It's only the second one for Russia at the Worlds and I’m really proud of my team. I’m impressed by this performance today. I feel last year we stole the bronze medal but this year we deserved it."

Meanwhile, Scotland skip Eve Muirhead said: "It's just not been our week. We haven't been consistent enough. The world championship is the competition that you build your season round and unfortunately this year it just wasn't to be."

Results, statistics, news and photos from the ZEN-NOH World Women’s Curling Championship 2015 can be seen here on the World Curling Federation’s official event website: http://wwcc2015.worldcurling.net

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Video Highlights: Highlights from the Scotland v Russia bronze medal game are available to watch below courtesy of World Curling TV (WCTV), the television arm of the World Curling Federation.

In addition, curling fans around the world will be able to follow selected live coverage of the 2015 World Championship events via the World Curling Federation’s YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/WorldCurlingTV